Jimmy Butler knew the Miami Heat would be back.
After the Heat finished off the Celtics on Monday by winning Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 103-84, a clip began making the rounds on social media from last season – when these same teams matched up in the same round, but it was Boston that went through to the Finals.
After that game in 2022, Butler gave a quote that turned out to be prophetic 12 months later.
“We had enough. Next year, we will have enough,” Butler said following Game 7 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, when the Celtics topped the Heat, 100-96.
“And we’re going to be right back in the same situation, and we’re going to get it done.”
Turns out, the Heat did exactly that, defeating the Celtics in seven games of a hard-fought series that seemed anything but to start – with Miami winning the first three contests.
No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 playoff deficit, but the Celtics looked poised to be the first, winning the next three games behind a dramatic, buzzer-beating tip-in from Derrick White in the closing seconds of Game 6 in Miami.
Boston then had a chance to clinch the series on their home court – but the game was never really close after Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle early, with Miami pulling out to a 20-point lead in the second half.
Jimmy Butler is presented with the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals Most Valuable Player trophy Getty Images
Jayson Tatum falls to the floor during the second quarter of Game 7 Getty ImagesUnlike last year, when Miami was the No. 1 seed in the East, the Heat reached the NBA Finals this season as the eighth seed.
But despite winning nine fewer games than they did in 2022, Butler and Co. had more than enough to get past Boston – as Butler so presciently predicted.
The Heat will now take on the Nuggets in the Finals, with the series beginning Thursday in Denver.
